The Ozai Letters
by Dex477
Summary: Dark letters of correspondence between Fire Lord Ozai and a treasonous Earth Kingdom general become the focus of a secret investigation by the Dai Li. What should be a routine interrogation, though, serves instead to bring out treachery in the most loyal of Earth Kingdom hearts. Currently on hiatus. M for darkness. No sexual content. No grammar errors. Flows seamlessly with canon.
1. Foreword

**The Ozai Letters, Foreword**

Hello, this is Dex477, and you are about to read my story, the Ozai Letters. I don't believe in "Author's Notes" - I think they get in the way of the story - so I'm going to try to put everything that I want the reader to know in this foreword. First of all, I got the idea for this when I was watching book 2, episode 1 ("The Avatar State") for the millionth time. General Fong, the Earth Kingdom general so intent on triggering the Avatar State in Aang, seemed to be downright malicious in his attempts to use the Avatar's power. And why would he (or the rest of his town/encampment) send the Avatar on his way to Omashu, which had definitely fallen to the Fire Nation, without ever warning him? The answer is in this story.

The concept of the Yin-Yang seems to show up a lot in this story, although I can't say that I intended to do that. A lot of characters have life-changing transformations in this story, not to depart from canon, but to explain how certain characters got to the way they were before canon took place. Good characters become bad, bad characters become good. Yin-yang. I enjoy that kind of stuff.

Canon is woven pretty seamlessly into my story because that's what makes a fun challenge to me. In some parts, I had to assume some things, or make up exciting backstories for characters (virtually all characters' backstories are fabricated), but I don't think anything I wrote goes against anything in canon.

I don't expect people to get as excited about this story as I am, so I really don't expect you to prepare yourself to read this story, because it would be pretty ridiculous if I did. That being said, you might get more out of this story if you re-watch episodes like "The Avatar State", "The Drill", and "Lake Laogai". But by all means read the story anyway.

Enjoy!


	2. Chapter 1

**The Ozai Letters, Ch. 1**

_CLANG._

General Fong jolted forward, waking with a start and breathing hard. What the…

Where was he?

The bed he was sitting on was not his own, that much was certain. The chamber pot, the blank walls and metal tile, the ominously heavy cagelike door, nothing making sense—

Metal. All of it. Prison. How?

Slowly, with each successive throb of his delicate skull, he patiently awaited his memory of what had happened to return. Putting his face in his hands, he sat gingerly. He knew from experience that sudden movements were a bad idea.

This wasn't the first time he had been knocked unconscious, that's for sure. Local medicine men that had tried to remedy him were at a loss as to whether his skull was thin or his brain was swollen, but ever since he was left for dead on the frontlines so many years ago, it hadn't taken much to knock him out.

At the thought of that horrid battle, he closed his eyes against the memories. After six hundred days of fighting, they were left for dead. No body count, no thought of searching the battlefield for any survivors, any fathers and brothers and servants of the Earth Kingdom who might have made it – how could they? How _could they_?

He grit his teeth and bit down on the memory, but then relaxed. Never did he let savagery show through his mask. He couldn't. Slumping down on the bed, he rested.

Bits of much more recent memories were beginning to return… There had been a fight, he knew, but not really a battle. A non-military struggle. For… For what, though?

There had been a kid, a kid in orange and yellow.

The Avatar.

He groaned aloud with realization as the memory of the events of the previous days flashed through his mind. It all made sense. Everything from the lump on his head to the very cell in which he was confined made perfect sense. It was exactly as the Master had threatened in his last letter: locked in a fully metal cell, without so much as a speck of –

_Clang._

The enormous deadbolt rang like a bell after swinging out of the locked position on the doorframe. There, as Fong watched, a man heaved the door open and stepped inside.

The door slammed shut and the man looked directly at Fong, who gasped. He knew who this was. The dark, fine robe with gold trim; the intimidating and confident stature; there was only one thing missing...

And then Fong saw it. The humble rice farmer's hat, held in the man's right hand. His eyes widened in recognition, but he felt his face curl into a smirk.

The man's sharp eyes narrowed. He was dangerous, clearly, and a silent threat seemed to exude from his intense gaze and finely trimmed lengths of moustache. "So here is the great General Fong. I must say, if I were to betray my nation and find myself tightly locked in a cage like this, I don't know what I would have to smile about."

"Of all the people they could have sent, I never would have expected a... politician."

The man's scowl deepened, but then relaxed. He placed his arms into the opposite sleeves behind his back. "Do you know why you are being held?"

Fong closed his eyes.

"No? Perhaps you can answer this instead, then." The man took one ominous step closer. "How long does it take an ostrich-horse courier to reach your military base from Omashu?"

No response.

"How long does it take a courier to reach your encampment from Ba Sing Se?"

The man waited for a response this time. Eventually Fong opened his eyes. "Where are you going with this?"

"Treason." The word hissed in its echo around the room. "You offer no answer, but it would take nine days. Nine days, tops." His voice grew louder. "Here you are, being held in a cell made entirely of metal just inside the inner wall of Ba Sing Se, and do you know how long it took to get you here?"

"Maybe five days, but what does it matter?"

The man straightened up, and Fong realized he had been leaning over him on his cot in a stance of intimidation. "It matters because Omashu, as you ought to have known, fell to the Fire Nation well over nine days before the Avatar visited your encampment. It matters because you knew the Avatar was heading to Omashu and by the honor of your oath to the Earth King, you would be bound to tell him that he was flying into a trap. But you did not." Danger dripped from the last three syllables the man spoke.

Fong felt his face curl into a smile once more. "Believe me, Zhang Wei, if that was all I was guilty of, I don't think this cell would be necessary."

Zhang Wei, who had been steadily bearing down upon the prisoner again, stepped back and studied him with his sharp eyes. _He knows my name_. _He is guilty of more than this. It is as we feared..._ But it was not unexpected, none of it. It was all a part of his plan. Their plan. "There is more. You are being held under suspicion of other treasonous activity. Believe _me_, if the rumors hold true, there is enough to indict and bury you so deep that not even you can dig your way out."

Fong shook his head. "How is it that such a high ranking politician is stuck here in a cell with a lowly traitor? I know I ought to be honored, but I am curious."

"The Dai Li are, and always have been, much more than a political party, as you are well aware," Zhang Wei snarled. "Without our executive power, His Majesty's decisions would never be fully realized. It is through our loyalty to the Earth King that our greatness is achieved. Perhaps you may learn from that sentiment."

Fong sat up. "I'm aware of your famed loyalty and power as the Earth King's 'yes men'. I was simply inquiring as to why a Dai Li agent so close to being the head of the corps would be stuck in here with me."

This time, it was Zhang Wei who smiled. Both long strands of his mustache twitched as he smirked at the prisoner. "I personally chose this operation. Do not think that this is an undesirable position." Then the smile vanished. "I could ask you the same question. As a general of your stature, with none between you and the Council of Five, you were certain to become one of the most powerful generals in the Kingdom! Were it not for these walls of metal and the fifty feet of earth over our heads, I'd say you would be one of the most successful commanders in our nation's history."

Fong looked up, studying his interrogator's eyes. Certainly he was an interrogator; he wasn't fooled by this exchange of words. Zhang Wei wanted to know how deep he was buried, and he would tell him. "Generals fall far," Fong finally whispered, reminiscing. "And earth means nothing to me. Not even metal has any meaning to me."

"How so?"

"The Fire Nation wants me dead now more than ever. Metal will not keep them out. I'm lucky to be safe here now."

Zhang Wei laughed confidently, and (it seemed to Fong) naturally. "You think the Fire Nation can reach you in here? I will not detail you on the complexities of your present situation. But nonetheless, you're caught. You won't escape here -"

"-I don't plan to-"

"-and no faces, friendly or otherwise, will penetrate this cell except for those of the Dai Li. You have had your arrest, and your trial is soon to come. Prepare your alibi, but be warned," the agent stepped towards the door and narrowed his eyes, "the Earth Kingdom is not known for its fair justice system."

With another _CLANG, _the door slid open. Someone on the outside must have opened it for him, because their was no latch release on the inside.

Without ever taking his eyes off Fong, Zhang Wei said, "I will see you soon." And with that, he stepped outside and the door immediately clattered shut.

General Fong smiled.


	3. Chapter 2

**The Ozai Letters, Ch. 2**

"Zhang Wei. A message for you."

Zhang Wei, who had been striding purposefully down a street of Ba Sing Se, paused.

"Thank you," he told the messenger. He turned back down the street and continued slowly as he opened the scroll and began to read. Suddenly he halted again.

With no warning, he spun and sprinted off in the opposite direction.

Fong laid back on his bed. It had been a few days since Zhang Wei's visit, and he had nothing to do in his cell.

Nothing except remember.

This was always the worst, he knew. Sitting by himself, he couldn't stop the flood of images from playing behind his eyes. There was nothing to take his mind off it, no outlet for rage and hatred that could make progress against it.

_Still, _Fong thought, _I made progress before I was captured. Not as much progress as I would have liked, but still..._

He lay and he remembered. He had been a confused person, then. He hadn't despised then the green and gold he wore, but he despised life instead, for reasons he didn't understand.

He had fought for days on end, in that battle that so shaped him...

_He was General Fong. This would be his first battle with the title "general." He inhaled deeply. It should mean so much to him, he knew, and to an extent, it did._

_Standing on the outer wall of Ba Sing Se, he observed the horizons. The hosts of the Fire Nation approached even as he watched, far off in the distance. He should be ready for this, now. Even if the siege lasted for months, or years, he would prove himself._

_He would learn who he was._

And the siege had gone on for years, Fong remembered.

_For months and months the siege raged on, and the fortress of the Earth Kingdom Capitol was pushed to its very limits._

_"General Fong," one of the Council of Five approached him upon the Outer Wall, months into the battle. "You're being reassigned. The Terra Team needs you. We could use someone with innovative youth leading the ground defense."_

_"Certainly, sir!" General Fong saluted, but then slacked inquisitively. "But what of the previous C.O.? They weren't leaderless before -"_

_"He has fallen." The general did not so much as remember his name. "It is your turn, now." With that, he strode off and was gone._

_General Fong watched him go for a moment and then stared down upon the battle below. He took it in. _Finally! _He thought. _A chance to prove myself. _It was all there. A great peace washed over him even as he watched flashes of bright flame and rumbling boulders clashing against each other at the base of the wall. _This, _he thought, _this_, _will be my big break, my discovery of who I will become! _His thoughts of regret for the fallen general, and all the other fallen soldiers, faded to the back of his mind. It was as though the path before him had finally fallen into place. _

_It was said, in the months of siege that followed, that the Terra Team could not be penetrated, and General Fong himself came to be known as the First Wall. The glory days of his military career were upon him, even in his youth._

Presently, in his cell beneath Lake Laogai, General Fong stared at the ceiling. Was it here, directly above his head, that everything changed? Would he be kept here until the end, and would poetic justice have its day?

Fong smirked and rolled over on his bed. No... It wasn't within the wall that his life had changed.

Suddenly the door opened with its usual _clang. _Zhang Wei stepped inside, this time accompanied by another Dai Li agent who was carrying something.

"So," Zhang Wei spat, "you are buried deeper than I ever would have imagined."

"Sure. I'm just glad you interrupted my reminiscence."

"I'm not doing you a favor," Zhang Wei answered. "I'm not doing you any favors after this." He jerked his thumb at the chest in his partner's hand.

Fong looked at it. "What is it?"

The other man opened the chest so Fong could see the contents. Scrolls of all sizes filled it to the brim.

"Do you have an explanation for these?" Zhang Wei snarled.

"Maybe I would... If I knew what they were." Fong sat up. "I'm honestly lost."

"You know what these are! You have signed many of them yourself. Do not act ignorant."

Fong looked at them again and gave an exasperated sigh. "I can't help you." He looked appealingly at the other man, as if asking for a reasonable voice.

The man holding the chest cleared his throat. "I think Zhang Wei was trying to say that these scrolls seem to be letters of correspondence between you and Fire Lord Ozai."

Fong looked at him, a smile growing on his face. "I knew it! I knew who you were the second you walked through the door."

Zhang Wei bristled all the more at this statement, and he clenched his hands into fists. "His name is-"

"Good Cop."

The room fell into a confused silence, because it was Fong who had spoken. The man in question shook his head, and then Zhang Wei laughed. "That is not his name, and he is no constable either. He is an actual officer of justice, a member of the Dai Li, along with myself."

Fong shrugged, undeterred. "To me, he is Good Cop, and you get to act as the bad cop. So go ahead, Zhang Wei, and do your worst... I'm waiting."

Looking at Fong as though in a new light, Zhang Wei took the first scroll off the stack in the chest and slowly pulled it open.


	4. Chapter 3

Good Cop set the chest of letters on the small metal endtable in the metal room. It was here, In Fong's cell, that Zhang Wei began to read the dark message aloud.

_General Fong,_

_This letter is written three days after our initial correspondence. It pleases me greatly that we may begin on the best of terms, as two allies seeking a common good, although it may not yet be seen as such by your nation. Of course you would be considered a traitor by them, but it is of no importance; you have chosen the winning side, and when the hour of the Fire Nation's victory is come you will be greatly rewarded above all the rest. However, it pleases me that I now have such an able and powerful ear on the inside of my enemies' camp, and for this reason I must emphasize that you MUST NOT be caught. I enjoy this advantage almost as much as you enjoy having functional hands with which to practice earthbending, which your Dai Li would probably crush with a boulder if they discovered your treachery, as is your Kingdom's custom. In addition, your punishment will be ever steeper from my forces if you are , every letter that is sent to you, except those containing long-term references such as informational maps and charts (which will be anonymous), must be IMMEDIATELY burned after it is read._

_Now, down to business. You are, no doubt, going to be reassigned to a more regional area now that the siege has failed, and so I have attached a map that contains locations of our forces. If you, as I suspect, have forces in the locations marked in green, then presumably some adjustments need to be made..._

Zhang Wei trailed off. Then, quietly, he said "And the rest is a... More or less perfectly accurate description of where our forces were reassigned to following the Six Hundred Day Siege."

There was silence in the room. Zhang Wei looked somewhere between angry and confused as he stared at Fong. Good Cop looked worried. Fong was expressionless.

Good Cop looked at the letter in Zhang Wei's hand. Then he murmured, "it is signed..."

_From the war chamber of the inaugural_

_FiRE LORD OZAi_

After he read this aloud, silence fell again. It was maybe ten minutes before anyone spoke.

At great length, Zhang Wei quoted, "_Our initial correspondence._" He had been staring at the floor, but now he looked up at Fong. "Who are you, that our greatest enemy refers to you with such courtesy? His cruelty and terror is famed, and yet, you, Fong, are met with polite words and a simple exchange of plans. _Two allies seeking a common good. _Does he even believe that?" Zhang Wei stopped and shook his head. Fong remained expressionless.

Good Cop stepped forward. "It is unbelievable, but in the interests of being productive, what is this initial correspondence? What could you have done to earn his trust? If I was Fire Lord, I would be very suspicious of high-ranking Earth Kingdom generals claiming to suddenly have had a change of heart."

When Fong didn't answer, there was a pause. _This is despicable_, Zhang Wei thought.He felt his contempt begin to build again, building upon itself in his thoughts creating a wrath. "Ozai doesn't need to mistrust this one," he began angrily. "This worm was on his side from the start. From the very beginning of Fong's miserable life, this was in the cards for him. What could he have been, what good he have done, for the Earth Kingdom?" Sarcasm seemed to flow from that last sentence. "I expected treachery of the worst kind, but this?" His voice, which had been mounting, reached peak volume. "This is beyond belief! He couldn't have been anything without treason. His whole renowned military career was only his springboard to the other side; all the works of the great General Fong were planned to end this way! It's beyond unbelievable, it's - ugh! - It's pathetic!"

At this, Fong finally reacted. "No," he said, shaking his head. "I wasn't always this way. My life changed in the Siege." And he did not say another word.

Zhang Wei grunted with a small release of the fire of his rage. It was maddening, only getting these cryptic little details, from a worm as low as this. He felt his fists clenching.

"Zhang Wei," Good Cop said slowly. _Be careful_, his tone warned.

As much as Zhang Wei wanted to continue drilling the prisoner, as much rage as he currently felt for the man, prudence dictated that he let this one go. No more would be gained if Fong continued to drop hints that showed he was steps ahead of them. And he would tell them nothing if he was attacked. Instead, Zhang Wei stepped back and breathed out slowly.

"We will be back. We _will_ have answers out of you."

_Clang. _He motioned at Good Cop, who took up the chest of scrolls, and they exited the room.

In the hall outside, Zhang Wei moved swiftly. "This investigation goes deeper into areas I had never expected," he began. They made a left turn down a side corridor. Still everything was metal, and Good Cop had to make an effort to match Zhang Wei's anger-fueled paces. "When we meet tonight, with the whole corps, this must be the main topic of discussion. We must thoroughly search each and every one of these scrolls."

Good Cop shook his head, even as he hurried down the metal hallway carrying the scrolls in question. "No, Zhang Wei, I would have to advise otherwise. I may not be the leader of the Dai Li, but I have a bad feeling about these. The more we read, the more divided we become. And besides, this is a job for cool heads, and no offense, but it doesn't seem as though you can keep your anger in check. I say we wait until we have a fully-developed plan before we dive further into these letters. Wait up!"

Good Cop, who had already been almost panting, had to move even faster to keep up with Zhang Wei's new pace. "And how do you propose we devise a plan if we haven't read the bulk of the intelligence? The Dai Li need to be as informed as possible, and there is no reason to keep away from these for one more moment. For all we know, there is more treason yet to come that must be stopped!" At that thought, Zhang Wei's eyes flashed. They careened around another turn.

"But hear me out!" They slowed up a little bit, but continued walking quickly. Good Cop noticed that in this hallway the metal had given way to stone. Green tinted the bricks that flashed by on the walls and floor. "I know this sounds crazy, but I think he wants us to lose control of our rage. Fong has more up his sleeve than we know."

"Another reason why we need to be as informed as possible!"

Determined to remain rational, Good Cop replied stubbornly, "Regardless, we can't let him get into our heads. No matter what he says - or refuses to say - we can't afford to get angry. It doesn't help."

Suddenly they halted. The ladder to the surface was directly above them. "You should be angry," Zhang Wei said. His eyes were almost narrowed now at his own compatriot. "If you aren't angry at a traitor, you aren't doing your job right. But even so, I will humor you. I won't ask the others to search through all the letters tonight."

Good Cop stopped just before he began to speak. Taken aback, he said, "Well, okay. That's what's best."

Zhang Wei looked up at the porthole-shaped exit above the ladder. There was a rumbling sound as he raised the exit-peninsula from the floor of Lake Laogai so they could climb up and out.

Placing a hand on the ladder, Zhang Wei turned and said, "Then I'll see you at the meeting."

Fong stared at the wall of his cell after they left. He did a lot of staring at blank surfaces when he was in prison. But it did no good to tell them anything yet. The Good Cop, especially, worried him.

_But Zhang Wei,_ he mused, _he is the heart of the Dai Li. The head, and the heart. _At that thought, he smiled.

Zhang Wei didn't understand why he wouldn't speak up, even though he hadn't bothered interrogating his subject very much yet. He didn't understand the mind of a traitor. But his instant response, his turn to anger, contented Fong. What he had started, he would finish, Good Cop or no. He was content.


End file.
